Over the centuries, the most challenging question to find an answer for; is about the human nature. Are people born with evil nature or good nature? However, until today, no person can find the truth about humanity. In fact, almost all people defend about the goodness in their souls and believe that they are far away from wickedness, although wars, murder and violence show strong evidence of evil in humans. In contrast, Shirley Jackson in her short story argues that evil is firmly rooted in human beings. The author uses the idea of the "lottery" in a brilliant way to illustrate the unpleasant truth of the human nature. The lottery in Shirley Jackson's short story shows a reversed meaning for the real lottery where the winner gets a precious prize. …show more content…
However, in Jackson's lottery, the winner is the saddest person as he gets a ticket to death instead of getting wealth. Symbolism is an effective literary tool, which is used successfully in "The Lottery." Shirley Jackson uses symbolic names and objects to clarify that human beings are inherently evil and how one can kill another without any reason.
The author uses unique names, which carries hidden meanings behind them, for her story's characters. Almost all the characters' names that Shirley Jackson uses are symbolic and represent vital ideas in the story. The first character that appears in "The Lottery" is Mr. Summers who is accountable for the civic activities of the town. This name is important as it refers to the time of the year when the lottery takes place. The lottery occurs in summer because it is the season of planting, and in order to get a good harvest, the villagers need to sacrifice one soul "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon." Moreover, the use of the plural noun of "summer" shows that the event of the lottery takes place in every summer. Another